Primary care residents at Nazareth are serving a diverse community
October 23, 2025Categories: Newsletter
Tags: Family Medicine
At the Nazareth Health Residency Center, the residents who are training to become primary care providers aren’t just learning how to treat various illnesses and conditions—they’re also providing timely, personalized access to health care for underserved and diverse patient populations.
The residency clinic—established in 2023 and conveniently located on the Nazareth Hospital campus—accepts 12 residents annually who hail from a variety of backgrounds and speak multiple languages. According to Arman Mushtaq, MD, associate program director and attending physician, the current group encompasses individuals from South America, India, Pakistan, Eastern Europe and more.
“All of the communities which are around the hospital, our resident population represents them,” says Dr. Mushtaq. “When you come with your mom or someone who just really wants to speak with someone in their own language and be comfortable, we will likely be able to provide them with someone.”
“Anytime you have to utilize translation services, it makes that visit a little bit impersonal because now you have to talk through a third person. Anytime you’re able to speak that person’s language and have this shared culture, it’s great,” adds Khanh Phung, DO, attending physician. “Being a minority myself, in my experience growing up and translating for my parents when they saw a physician, their eyes would light up when they were able to see a provider of their own nationality or background.”
In-depth appointments
On any given day during standard operating hours, up to five residents are on hand to see patients, which means plenty of availability. Patients who contact the clinic to make an appointment can typically be seen within two or three days. Thanks to this enhanced availability, patients can spend ample time—about 30 or 40 minutes—discussing their health with the resident and attending physician. Either Dr. Mushtaq or Dr. Phung is present during each appointment.
Plus, since the clinic is conveniently located on the Nazareth Hospital campus, CT scans and other tests, blood work and vaccinations can all happen on the same day. If the patient receives a prescription, they can pick it up at the Nazareth Outpatient Pharmacy, also on site. Afterward, patients will typically receive a follow-up directly from the resident.
“It’s more of a personalized patient experience and they can ask more questions,” says Dr. Mushtaq.
The curriculum
Over the course of three years, residents acquire skills in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. Regarding the former, residents become experts in diseases and acute illnesses, critical care, ICU training and transition of care.
“They also learn about inpatient subspecialties like cardiology, gastroenterology, neurology, stroke management, MI, heart attack management, upper and lower GI bleeds, and common and rare infections that can bring someone to the hospital,” says Dr. Mushtaq.
As for the outpatient training, residents are prepared to take on any ambulatory complaint, including hypertension, diabetes, cholesterol, knee pain and more.
“At the end of three years, they should have the confidence to be able to take care of all those things and have the confidence to say, ‘This patient potentially needs something else,’ or, ‘This patient is too sick to even be taken care of in an outpatient setting. They need to go to the ER or inpatient’,” says Dr. Phung.
Helping the community
The care that the residents provide for the community isn’t limited to the clinic’s walls. Throughout the year, they are present at many health fairs and educational events, the most recent being a poverty simulation at a church in Yardley. That experience placed the residents in various hypothetical scenarios and taught them how to care for patients with limited incomes. Drs. Mushtaq and Phung are in the process of launching a new community initiative—STD screenings—within the next few months.
“The residents would actually be going on the streets in areas where homeless people need care and no one reaches out to them,” says Dr. Mushtaq. “They’d provide care and resources, do screenings, HIV testing, Hep C testing, some counseling.”